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Goodnight and Go - Part Four
Written by: Amalea
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"My life as I know it... is over." Lilly thought to herself as she stood at the edge of the water, watching as the waves moved it in and out. She had removed her shoes and was standing barefoot, feeling the cool water run over her feet. Now kicking at the water as it rose to her, she attempted to formulate a plan.
"Alright, so all I need are some super mind reading powers, and this will be a piece of cake. Hmm... OK, maybe I can see where that won't work out so well. Perhaps a spy... ooh, a Russian spy. Even better. Now... ok yeah, you're on a roll Lilly. Maybe if you were in an alternate universe these incredibly intelligent plans of yours would work out. Lilly Truscott: the Mind Reading Russian Spy. I like it."
Obviously, the planning was not going so well, and Lilly, lost in thought, continued kicking around at the edge of the water. Lilly was caught up in an extensive scenario in which her spy alter ego was fighting off the enemy when a voice yelled her name.
"Lilly!"
Losing all coordination, Lilly fell to the sand, successfully soaking the entire lower portion of her body.
Walking toward her was none other that Jackson Stewart.
"Way to stick the landing," he commented as he came upon her, still sitting in the wet sand. He offered a hand to help her up and she grudgingly accepted.
"What in the world are you doing here?" she asked, terrified that his answer would involve a certain note she may have written.
"I had something that I think belonged to you... but you kind of took off back there? Anyway, I noticed you weren't headed home, so I guess I followed you?"
"Stalker," Lilly muttered under her breath, half-jokingly.
"What?"
"Nothing," she said innocently. "So, you just wanted to talk? About anything important? I'm, uh, kind of busy now..."
"Yeah, you looked pretty busy," he said sarcastically, "were those real ninja moves you were doing there?"
"For your information, I was being a spy, not a ninja." The words slipped out before Lilly could stop them.
Jackson laughed heartily, "Oh, my mistake."
Lilly tried to maintain a glare in the face of his mockery, but the way Jackson's entire face lit up when he laughed made her weak inside. "Curse you stupid, girly crush."
Lilly sighed as a smile played at the corner of her lips, "So what was it you wanted then?" Prepared for the worst, she braced herself for an answer. He had obviously found the note. 'I had something that I think belonged to you.'
"Uh, duh, Lilly, like there's even anything else he could possibly be talking about."
"Well, this is yours, right?" he asked, holding out something in his hand. Lilly peered over at it, expectant, as she prepared in her head elaborate lies about someone forging her handwriting and leaving the note as a joke. "Your lucky bracelet, is it not?"
Lilly laughed.
"Yes, yes it is. Why thank you Jackson. How considerate of you to bring this all the way down here for me," she said, completely amused and happily surprised. On the inside her mind exploded with happiness, "Oh lucky bracelet. Lucky, lucky bracelet. Maybe you're luckier than I thought! Jackson doesn't have the note!"
Jackson smiled, "Well, I knew it was important to you. The last time you lost it I remember you panicking for a solid week." It looked like there was still something else he wanted to add, but Lilly didn't notice, she was too consumed with her internal celebration.
"I'll see you later then, Lilly," he said, then as an afterthought added, "and you might want to think about mixing up the wardrobe a little bit."
Lilly's mouth opened. "He actually noticed that I was wearing the same thing as yesterday? Are boys even capable of that level of observation? This boy especially... he wouldn't notice he was walking barefoot through glass unless someone told him."
Jackson caught Lilly's surprise at his observation. "You know, Lil, I'm not as oblivious to things as you think."
That bright, shining glimmer of happiness dropped from her immediately as Jackson walked away, and her brain was sent reeling.
"Why would he-" Lilly stopped mid-question, "Don't you dare answer that, brain."
"But I must! OBVIOUSLY he has the note. What are you dense? What else would make him say that?" her brain replied, seeing the completely logical where Lilly was trying not to.
"Something else? ANYTHING else." Lilly responded, more pleading than asserting.
"Wrong, my dear. You know Jackson isn't that observant. You thought it yourself just a minute ago. The thing about walking through glass? Yeah. It's true and you know it. He must have the note. That was his way of hinting that he does get it and he does understand."
At that thought Lilly just became increasingly depressed. "But if he did get the note... and he does understand... that just means he doesn't feel the same way."
Lilly sat back down in the sand and felt her eyes brimming with tears. She had known this would happen, and however unintentional it had been, she'd been the one to set herself up for it. She pulled her legs to her chest and put her head down. What she needed was someone to talk to, and the only person she could ever talk to about boy issues was her best friend. But somehow, she didn't think it would be appropriate. Jackson was her brother after all. Would she really be interested in hearing this?
Wiping the tears from her face she made her decision. Miley may be Jackson's sister, but she was still Lilly's best friend and she'd want to know about her feelings and she'd definitely care if Lilly was this upset about him.
Not wanting to go back to the Stewart house she called Miley's phone. On the third ring, she picked up.
"Hello?"
"Miles? This is Lilly, I'm sorry about earlier, but I really need someone to talk to. Would you mind meeting me down at the beach? I mean, if you aren't busy or anything," Lilly said in a strained voice. She was tired and hungry, having not eaten since the previous night, and to add to it she was now feeling quite heartbroken.
"Yeah, Lilly. I'll be there in just a minute, and I'm never too busy for my best friend. You know that," Miley said half-forgiving, half-apologizing for her own anger that morning.
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Shortly thereafter, Miley was sitting in the sand at her best friend's side. Lilly had spilled the entire story to her. From first realizing she liked Jackson, to the night before, to the stupid note she'd written and forgotten.
"So, what you're telling me here... is you like my brother?" Miley asked for the second time. Lilly nodded her head, feeling slightly embarrassed but more relieved. She never realized how much keeping this from Miley was affecting her.
"My brother? Jackson? Average height, dark blond hair? Really goofy? That one? You're sure?" Miley asked again.
Lilly laughed and pushed Miley's shoulder, "Yessss, make me feel more ridiculous, please?"
"I'm kidding," Miley smiled, "I just can't believe you never told me! Although... I always did kind of get this vibe from you."
"Oh sure, now you're going to claim you knew."
"No, I'm just saying. Now that I look back... I should've picked up on it."
Lilly sighed, "Well, it doesn't matter anyway. He obviously doesn't think of me in that way. I'm still just his little sister's dorky friend."
"Oh Lilly! You don't know that, right? You're just speculating. Maybe he didn't even find the note!" Miley said, hopefully.
"He had to have found it," Lilly stated bluntly, "Why would he have made that comment otherwise?"
Miley just shrugged, "I don't know, but I promise you one thing: I will get to the bottom of this. Then when you and Jackson get married and we're sisters-in-law, you can thank me." A huge smile spread across Miley's face and her eyes twinkled.
Lilly rolled her eyes and groaned, "Oh Miley, don't do anything crazy."
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A/N: I wrote that kind of fast, and am a little concerned about it. Let me know if there are any mistakes or things that completely don't flow. I wanted to make this longer, because it's the last day I'll be able to update until next week most likely. With work, school, and exams... my time is becoming quite limited, but I really want to write more on this, so I'll try and squeeze in writing wherever I can. Now everyone should review and make me extremely happy. Seriously, I live for reviews, even the smallest acknowledgments. PS: argentinipinkini, you don't know how tempted I was to write the Lilly/Robby heart-to-heart... that was one of my ideas when I outlined, but I ended up deciding against it. Many thanks to my readers, and additional thanks to my reviewers.